


Terra Firma

by scarletmanuka



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, Evan "Buck" Buckley is a Little Shit, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Tumblr Prompt, puns, so many puns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:48:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29019246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarletmanuka/pseuds/scarletmanuka
Summary: For the Tumblr prompt: Team goes out to a call to a school play gone wrong and somehow some giant paper mache creation comes loose and crashes onto Eddie's head and gets stuck there. Could be a Planet like Dr. Evil or a giant strawberry, either way Eddie is stumbling around while Buck trying to help him, all the while laughing his own head off at the sheer absurdity of it all.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 28
Kudos: 209
Collections: 9-1-1 Tales





	Terra Firma

“Okay everyone, let’s move out!” Bobby called. “We’re heading to Rockwell Elementary.”

Buck scrambled to his feet and noticed the way that the rest of the team were also moving with a sense of urgency at the mention of a school. 

“What’s happened, Cap?” Hen asked, and Buck knew she was psyching herself up to treat injured kids.

“Set collapse during their school play,” Bobby filled them in over the headset as the truck took off. “No injuries reported but they’ve evacuated the auditorium until we can stabilise the area.”

Everyone sighed a breath of relief at that. Buck flashed Eddie a small smile that Eddie returned, the tension easing from his shoulders. He knew that whenever there were kids involved, Eddie couldn’t help but picture the ‘what if’ scenario. What if it was Christopher? What if he was the one who had to be told that his child had been hurt, or worse, killed. It was what made him an excellent dad, and just one of the things that Buck loved about him. They’d only been together for a few months so he only ever said those words inside his head but he couldn’t deny that he loved Eddie more than he thought possible. 

They arrived at the school and headed inside, Bobby calling out, “LAFD, make way,” to the large group of parents and other audience members that had gathered outside. The kids had been taken back to their classrooms so at least they were out of the way. They made their way up to the stage where a rather elaborate set had been constructed. It was a moonscape, but it wasn’t simply flat, but had multiple levels to depict hills and gullies. A large replica of a lunar module was on the far left of the stage and was half crushed by a large beam that had fallen from above. Still hovering above the stage was a large paper mache earth and several stars, though the way they were swaying told Buck that they might not be up there for much longer.

Eddie whistled. “Wow, we didn’t have anything like this when I was in school.”

“Henry’s school doesn’t do anything this fancy,” Hen added.

“Okay, looks like debris has punched a hole in the stage floor,” Bobby called, “so watch your footing. Let’s try and get this shored up.”

Buck and Eddie headed up onto the stage to get a closer look at what they were dealing with. Buck pointed up into the rafters. “Looks like one of the overhead catwalks has come loose from one end of the wall, which has come down on the beam, which has in turn sent that falling.”

“If we move the beam, we might cause the catwalk to come down on our heads,” Eddie warned.

Buck nodded. “Yeah, and your head’s way too pretty to get crushed by a beam.”

Eddie shook his head at the corny joke and called out to Bobby, “Cap, we’ll need someone up above securing the broken catwalk before we attempt to move this beam.”

“Alright. Chim, get harnessed and head up. Hen, you can belay for him since we don’t have any injuries.”

Buck and Eddie checked out the rest of the stage but there was little they could do until the hazard above had been dealt with. “You still up for movie night on Friday?” Eddie asked quietly as they stood side by side, watching Chim up above.

Buck beamed at him. “Of course, there’s no way I’d miss a night with my two favourite guys.”

Eddie brushed his hand against Buck’s, his thumb stroking over the pulse point on his wrist. Buck felt shivers go through him and he figured that it had to be love to have such a visceral reaction to such a chaste touch. He knew he must look like a loon, grinning madly and looking at Eddie with heart eyes, but Buck found that he really didn't care. They’d survived the initial teasing from their teammates when they’d announced their relationship, as well as hearing over and over how adorable and how cute they were together, he could survive a little more.

“Okay, I’m going to attempt to anchor this catwalk back to the wall,” Chim called to them. He was perched awkwardly on a different beam a foot or so to the right of the catwalk. He lowered a rope down with a hook on the end, snagging the railing so he could pull the whole thing up. It took a minute but he finally had it level with where it had been attached. Chim reached for the drill but then ran out of hands. He seemed to realise at the last minute and Buck saw his expression flicker between exasperation, frustration, and then worry as he juggled the drill, the rope, and the catwalk railing. The railing slipped from his hands. “Oh, crap.”

“Move!” Buck cried, shoving Eddie to get him out of the way.

The catwalk dropped and the force yanked the other end from the wall and the entire thing came crashing down. Buck threw himself to one side, narrowly avoiding the heavy beam that was struck loose by the metal catwalk. He slid along the stage on his shoulder, his arms up to protect his head, before he skidded to a stop against the prop lunar module. Silence fell over the auditorium as dust rained down from above. Then he heard Bobby cry out, “Everyone report!”

“I’m clear,” called Hen.

“I’m good up here,” said Chim. “...sorry.”

“I’m okay,” Buck said, coughing a little on the dust.

“Uh mmph eed a iddle elp,” said a muffled voice.

Buck pushed himself up, frowning. That had to be Eddie but what was wrong? He scrambled to his feet and then almost tripped over at the sight before him. He snorted, a hand flying up to his mouth to try and contain his laughter but he knew that he hadn’t succeeded.

The catwalk and beam must have also knocked loose the other decorations and the large, paper mache Earth had fallen on top of Eddie. More specifically, his head. Eddie’s noggin had punched a hole through the Earth’s crust in the vicinity of Antarctica and it was sitting atop his shoulders, complete with a 23 degree angle. “What on earth? Eddie?”

Closer up, Eddie’s voice was less muffled. “I said, I might need a little help.”

Buck giggled again. “You sure about that?”

Eddie turned, trying to pinpoint Buck’s location but the weight of the giant ball made him stagger slightly, making him look a little drunk. From the other side of the stage, he heard Hen laugh. “Eddie, Earth needs to stand still,” Buck said, but Eddie ignored him, and he stumbled a few more steps in what he thought was Buck’s direction but in fact was towards the edge of the stage. “No! Stop!” He grabbed Eddie’s hand just as he was about to go over the edge and yanked him backwards. Eddie’s centre of gravity was completely off and he toppled over onto Buck, sending him flying and they landed in a heap of tangled limbs and brightly coloured continents on the floor.

“Ow,” said Africa.

Shaking with suppressed laughter, Buck pushed up onto his knees and grabbed Eddie under his armpits to help him up. Once back on his feet, Eddie’s hands reached up and felt around his paper mache cage. “Hey, Eddie?” Buck asked.

“Yeah?” 

“This has got to be a world first.”

Silence.

Buck tried again. “I think what I like best about you is that you’re so down to earth.”

Listening carefully he was sure that he could hear Australia cussing him out.

“Do you know that you’re my whole world?”

Eddie groaned. “Just get me out of this thing!”

“You know I’d go to the ends of the earth for you.” Buck tried to bite back a laugh but it came out anyway.

“I hate you.”

“Calm down. If you keep trying to carry the world on your shoulders like this, you’re gonna get stressed.”

“You know I could kill you right now?” Eddie did _not_ sound amused.

“How?” Buck teased. “Global warming?”

Hen doubled over laughing, and Chim joined her from above which made Buck lose it as well. He howled with laughter, tried to reign it in, but ended up laughing even harder. Eddie must have realised that Buck was going to be no help and he turned and tried to storm off. He only took three steps before he learned that while the earth may not be flat, the stage was, and he had once again found the edge. He teetered on the edge, his arms windmilling like crazy, but he simply was too top heavy and he toppled off. 

Bobby saw what was happening, and since he was the only one not pissing himself laughing he was the one who darted forward to try and rescue Eddie. All he did was break Eddie’s fall and they lay together, groaning. The crash landing had caused the paper mache to split in an uncanny representation of the Ring of Fire. 

“Earth to Buck,” Bobby called from where he was still pinned beneath Eddie.

“Yeah, Cap?” 

“I’m in a world of pain here. Little help?”

Buck heard Eddie groan. “Not you too, Cap?”

“Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and, you weep alone,” Bobby quoted.

“That’s it, I want a divorce, from all of you,” Eddie grumbled.

Buck vaulted down from the stage and once again picked Eddie up. “Cheer up, it’s not the end of the world.” He then controlled his laughter so he could put his poor boyfriend out of his misery and he heaved the paper mache ball off of his head. 

Eddie blinked at the sudden light, his hair mussed and face red, before he turned to glare at his teammates. “I cannot believe it took you that long to get me out of that thing!”

“Not like I could do anything,” Chim yelled back. “I’m up here on top of the world!”

“I was over here in my own corner of the earth,” Hen called.

“I tried,” Bobby wheezed, sitting up and rubbing at a rib.

“Sorry,” Eddie told him, offering him a hand and pulling him to his feet. He then whirled on Buck. “But _you!_ You should have done more!”

Buck’s lips were twitching and he suddenly regretted not videoing it on his phone to show Christopher. “I got you out as soon as possible!” He pulled Eddie to him and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “How ‘bout I make it up to you later?” he asked in a sultry voice.

“Hey, not at work, boys!” Bobby scolded.

They broke apart but as Bobby turned to see how Hen and Chim were doing, Buck leaned forward and whispered, “Tonight I’m gonna come over and once Christopher is in bed, I’m going to rock your world.”

Eddie snagged a finger through one of Buck’s belt loops and dragged him in close. “Chris is staying with Abuela tonight.”

“Really?”

“Really.” Eddie nipped at Buck’s lower lip. “Which means we’ll have all the time in the world.”

Buck gave him a huge grin. “Well, ain’t you just the salt of the earth?"


End file.
